Not Just A Soldier
by Captain Fedo
Summary: Becker's perspective when he tries to sacrifice himself in 3x08


Captain Becker knew his duty. His duty was to protect the ARC team from any and all danger and to make sure everyone came home at the end of the day. Unfortunately, the ARC team sometimes made it difficult to carry out this mission. Right now, for instance. The smart way to extract someone trapped on the other side of an anomaly was to send in a trained and qualified search and rescue squad. That was the standard policy for situations such as this. However, the wrong way to extract someone from an anomaly was to charge in with four people, only two of which are firearms qualified, and try and rescue him themselves. Add to the mix that this side of the anomaly is loaded with future predators, and the team is really in trouble. Yet despite all of his protestations, here they were, four of the ARC's five core members, on the other side of an anomaly, trying to haul Abby's injured brother up out of the pit he had fallen into.

Abby got his attention with a worried sound. Becker looked at the surrounding buildings and saw the future predators surrounding them on all sides. They weren't going to make it, not with the boy still halfway in the pit and Danny at the bottom. Danny couldn't make the hard decisions, so he'd have to. He was the soldier, it was part of his job. He gave Abby the rope to hold onto with Connor and took the pistol out of her hand. As he unscrewed the silencer from Shelia (he would never tell any of the team, but he'd named all eight of his guns) he thought about what to say to them. He was on the verge of telling them to stay out of trouble when he remembered Cutter saying that those were Stephen Hart's last words for the pair. He didn't want to use the same farewell, instead he just settled for looking Connor dead in the eyes and saying, "Whatever happens, just get them out of here". Connor looked confused, as if he couldn't comprehend what was about to happen. Becker gave him one last pat on the shoulder and stood up, heading for the warehouse door that the predators were congregating over. He began firing Shelia wildly, drawing the predators attention. Abby screamed his name, but he had already gone into his combat state, nothing was going to distract him from his goal now, and his goal was to lead a large mob of vicious killing machines away from his team to buy them time to escape. What did he matter anyways, they were the important ones to the ARC, he was just the soldier.

Becker ran through the hallway as fast as his legs would take him, emptying the last of Shelia's clip as he went. He pulled Shannon, his favorite shotgun, out of his bag as he ran. Abby said these creatures saw through sound, well Becker was going to give them something to look at. He bolted suddenly through the first doorway he could find, spinning around to get a clear shot at whatever came through the door. The first predator in got one full round from Shannon to it's bulbous head, however, two more climbed in the room after it, and four more after them.

They eyed Becker cautiously as he kept Shannon trained on as many as he could while slowly edging his way to the next open door. Without warning, one of the predators leapt at Becker, who caught it with a blast in mid-air while turning and shooting the predator trying to get behind him. Another predator swiped at Becker before could get his guard up. Years of military training and reflexes honed by combat saved him. He managed to jerk himself back enough to keep the predator from his chest the claws missing him by a hair. He stumbled backwards, pulling the trigger on Shannon until he heard it clicking. Becker bolted to his feet, and began running through the next room, reloading Shannon as he went.

The three remaining predators chased him through the maze of rooms and hallways. Firing over his shoulder a couple of times, he managed to wound one of the predators enough to cause it to fall back. Fortunately for Becker, the predators were cannibalistic, and one of the uninjured predators finished the job for him and stayed back to enjoys it's work. However, the final predator was not giving up, and Becker was getting very tired. He could feel himself getting slower and the predator getting closer. Luckily his instincts kicked in at the precise moment and he dropped to the ground just as the predator lunged for him. The predator missed Becker by inches, but knocked Shannon out of his hands and into the corner of the room that the predator now blocked. He didn't have time to reload Shelia and he didn't have another gun he could reach. He would have to do this old school. Keeping eye contact with the predator, Becker unsheathed his father's Bowie knife, which was given to Becker by his father upon his acceptance into the military. Becker carried it with him everywhere. His father told him that it was called Margaret, which was incidentally the name of Becker's mother. Becker held Margaret out in front of him in a standard knife fighting stance, if he was going to be torn to pieces; he at least wanted to make sure the creature that did it would remember who he was for a long time after.

The final predator circled Becker warily. However, every time Becker tried to get to Shannon, the predator switched directions, causing him to move away again. Connor did say these things were intelligent. Becker decided to not let the predator take the first move and feinted left before rushing right with a savage roar. The predator caught him with a backhanded swipe, but Becker was able to slice it's arm before he went flying backwards through the next door.

Becker's eyes were momentarily blinded by the bright sunlight as he realized he'd been thrown outside, very near to the anomaly. In that moment, he began to feel hope that he just might survive this ordeal. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the predator leapt outside and rushed at Becker. From his back, Becker slashed upwards, catching the predator across the chest in a bloody gash. As the predator staggered back in pain and anger, a flying blur slammed into it at top speed. Becker recognized it as the flying insects they'd encountered at the racetrack what felt like a hundred years ago. The predator began tearing at the insect, Becker forgotten. The insect flew up over the buildings and the predator followed. Becker got up slowly, barely believing that he was still alive, and ran into the building to retrieve Shannon; he wasn't going home without her now.

As he ran to the row of cars, he realized that in his absence, the world had truly gone mad. Thousands of the insects were swarming around trying to kill the pack of predators that surrounded the buildings. He looked around wildly for the anomaly, but his heart sunk when he saw it. The normally large group of refracted light had condensed into a small ball, meaning the anomaly had been locked from the other side. Danny and the others must have made it back and assumed he had died. The rational side of him realized that it was a reasonable assumption, in their shoes, he'd feel the same. But the other side of his thoughts remembered when they waited for Danny to return from leading the G-Rex, and he hadn't even been on the team yet. But what did he matter, he was just the soldier. Becker's military side told him that he could debate the bonds of loyalty and friendship all he wanted, but it would be smarter to do it with some cover. He ran to the first open car and crawled in. He kept Shannon trained on the sunroof in case an insect or predator decided to land on it.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of people running his way. Someone shouted that the anomaly was locked. He realized with joy that the team hadn't left him behind, but now they were trapped too. He was about to exit the car and greet them, he could already imagine the look of awe on Connor's face, when he heard the sound of windshields cracking under pressure. The sound kept repeating itself, and Becker, looking through the front window of his car, could see a predator leaping from car to car, aiming for the team. As the predator grew closer and Becker debated the best way to deal with the threat, he noticed a red streak across the predator's chest. This one wasn't getting away again. Becker tried to lower his heartbeat as the predator got closer. When it finally landed on the hood of his car, Becker pulled Shannon's trigger, blasting the predator off it's feet and onto the ground. Becker lifted himself out of the car and kept Shannon trained on the still creature. "Gotcha" Becker said triumphantly. The rest of the team cried out his name with various tones of surprise and joy. Becker was slightly surprised to realize that he felt more relief because they cared than because he'd killed another predator. With a cry of delight, Becker saw the anomaly reopen and followed the rest of the ARC team into the anomaly and back home. Turns out he was more than just a soldier to the others, they considered him part of the team as well.


End file.
